Loose-leaf binder.



c. L. BALDAUB. LOOSE LEAF BINDER.

APPLICATION FILED HAY 518, 1908 91 4,7 81 Y Patented Man9, 1909.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES L. BALDAUF, OF WEST HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THOMAS NELSON &

SONS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

LOOSE-LEAF BINDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 9, 1909.

I especially for application to a certain class of alphabetically arranged publications such as encyclopedias, dictionaries, statistical tables, etc., in which such revisions or new matters as may appear from time to time take the form of special pages to be added to or substituted for the old pages covering the particular subject under consideration, which pages may be, of course, in any particular part of the book. To be able to make such additions and substitutions quickly and easily and yet have the aggregate of loose leaves retain the firmness, integrity, ease of handling, and appearance of a bound volume of the usual type is the principal object of my invention.

Referring to the drawings, Figure is a perspective view showing a preferred form of my binder as it would appear when looked upon pages but with the pages omitted for the sake of clearness. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the metal structure (bars and locking devices) of Fig. 1 with the looking device at one end represented as closed and, at the other end, as open. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section, looking from the right, taken on the line 33 of F ig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation, on the same scale as Fig. 3, of one end only of the metal structure of my improved binder but using a slightly different form of locking device from that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, Fig. 5 is a section, looking from the left, taken on the line 55 of Fig. ,4, Fig. 6 is an end elevation, looking from the right, of the construction shown in Fig. 4:, and Fig. 7 is a perspective view of an alternative form of nut to be used with the clamping screw of the locking device.

a, b, are two stiff sides of covers, preferably integral with a back, 0, and joined thereto by flexible portions, d, which serve as hinges.

Attached to the covers by any suitable means and just within the back are two flat bars e,f, the upper bar, 6, having its two ends bent downward through a right angle to form portions, 9, and the lower bar, f, slightly longer than e, having two hinged portions h. Projecting upward from f, and rigidly attached thereto is a plurality of pins, 93, of length not greater than the aggregate thickness of the least number of pages to be bound; these pins have sockets, i, drilled into their free ends to receive smaller pins, j, fixed to and projecting downward from the upper bar, e, or, pins 7 may preferably be made from tubing of suitable diameter and bore. The bent ends, g, and hinged pieces, it, constitute the locking device.

In use, both hinged pieces are thrown down and the covers, a, Z), separated so as to lift the pins y' from the sockets i; the total of pages to be bound is then slipped over the pins, 2', holes having been provided in the pages to receive them. The covers are then brought together again and the pins j, in serted in the sockets t, after which the hinged pieces are thrown up and the pins is pressed into the upper holes Z or the lower -oles m (according to the thickness of the combined pages) which have been provided for the purpose in the bent pieces 9.

To retain the pin 76 in its socket hole, Z, or m, I provide each hinged piece h, with a closed slot, at, in which slides a suitably headed screw, 0, provided with a nut 19. In the ends, g, of the upper bar, 6, I cut a con- ..verging slot, q. By then slacking nut 29 and raising screw 0 until its stem is within the limits of the beveled slot, 9, and again tightening 0 in its nut I may then clamp the elements, g, and h, of the locking device firmly together and the book thus constituted may be treated, as a whole, just as may any well bound book without risk of looseness or loss of pages.

To prevent the nut p from turning with the screw 0 when the latter is tightened I provide it with a square hub, 1", adapted to enter the converging slot 9, but not to turn therein, and having an axial thickness not greater than that of the piece 9. Or, I may form the nut, as shown in Fig. 7, with a cylindrical hub, r, having the same axial thickness as the square hub, 1', and a thin portion, 8 (of diameter too great to pass through the slots, g and h) in which are cut pairs of radial slits so as to form tongues, t; these tongues are bent inward so as to project into the slot, q, and will be stopped thereby on the one side or the other as the clamp screw is turned.

By making the pin 7r in the form of a cone with its apex at the hinged piece h, it not only slips into its socket hole with a click but also tends to remainin the same irrespective of the clamp screw.

To facilitate throwing; down the hinge piece, h, when the clamp screw is released I bend its top outwardly as at u; it is then easily caught by the finger tip, or by a coin or key which may also be employed to operate the screw 0.

I11 Figs. 4, 5, and 6 the locking elements 9', 7L vary somewhat in detail from those used in the preceding figures inthat, instead of causing a pin 7c to cooperate with holes Z or m, two tongues, 12', formed uponthe top of the hinge element h, are caused to engage slots, w, placed in pairs one above the other and on opposite sides of the element g. The tongues 12 are readily formed by slitting the ends of the hinge elements for a short distance in planes parallel to the edge of the element thus formingv three tongues, the center one of which may be bent out into a tongue u, equivalenting a of Figs. 1 and 2 while the outside tongues, bent inwardly, constitute the tongues a.

While I have shown two forms of my in vention, I do not intend to limit myself to the said forms, but may vary the size, shape or arrangement of the elements of my structure, and intend, by my claims, to cover any equivalent structures.

Having thus described my invention, I therefore claim:

1. The combination, with side sections adapted to removably clamp between them a variable number of loose sheets, of a locking device located at the end of said sections com: prising a bent element attached to one. section, a hinged element attached to the other section, mutually engaging male and femaleportions on the one and the other of the two elements, and a binding screw and nut adapted to retain the elements in their thusengaged positions.

2. In combination in a loose leaf binder comprising two bars provided with leaf enthan the slot in the other extension; sockets formed in the shorter extension; a socket engaging male piece fixed to the hinged extension; anda binding screw and nut adapted to slide in the closed slot so as to embrace at will and clamp together both extensions; saidextensions both lying outside the leaves and the hinged extension being movable in the plane of the two bars so as to fold upon the outside of the shorter extension.

3. In combination in a loose leaf binder, a bar provided with leaf engaging pins of a length approximately equal to the combined thickness of the leaves to be bound, and a bar provided with means for engaging the free ends of said pins, one of said bars being further provided with an extension having. a

slot opened from its extremity and the other with a hinged extension provided with a closed slot said hinged extensionv being longer than the other extension and its slot being longer than the slot in the other extene s-ion sockets formed in the shorter extension; a socket engaging male piece fixed to the hinged extension; and a binding screw and nut adapted to slide in the closedslot so as to embrace at will and clamptogether both extens-ions; said extensions both lying outside the leaves and the hinged extension being movable in the" plane of the two bars so as to fold upon the outside of the shorter extension.

4. In a loose leaf binder having side sections adapted to removably clamp between them a variable number of loose sheets and having mutually engaging extensions located at the end of said sections said extensions being provided with an open and a closed slot respectively, a clamp screw adapted to adapted to hold the binder device in closed relation, a clamp screw adapted to operate in said slots and provided with a nut having reentrant portions adapted to engage one of said slots whereby said screw may be advanced or withdrawn with reference to said nut.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 25th day of May 1908.

CHARLES L. BALDAUF.

WVitnesses:

JOHN A. KEHLENBECK,

JOHN LOTKA. 

